Pride 2025

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SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2025 ADVERTISING FEATURE

Happy Pride Month!

From the team at Brentwood Bay Resort PHOTO CREDIT: AMBER JAMES

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SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2025

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PATHS TO PARENTHOOD:

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A Guide for LGBTQ2SIA+ Family Building in 2025

f you are looking to start or grow your family the journey to parenthood for LGBTQ2SIA+ individuals or couples is more accessible than ever. Whether you are planning to build your family through pregnancy, surrogacy, or adoption, there are inclusive options available.

GETTING STARTED: Referrals and First Steps The first step is to speak with your family doctor or primary care provider. They can refer you to a fertility clinic for consultation and testing.

At your initial consultation, your fertility specialist will go over you and your partner’s fertility tests and discuss your family building options with you.

Family Building Options Everyone’s path to parenthood is unique and depending on goals and circumstances they might include: · Donor sperm insemination (IUI)- For couples or individuals with eggs and a uterus, the process of getting pregnant can be straightforward. You can use a known or anonymous sperm donor and have monthly inseminations of sperm into your uterus. · IVF-Another option for pregnancy is IVF or reciprocal IVF, in which an egg is retrieved from one partner, and the fertilized embryo is implanted in the other partner, allowing both parents to participate in the reproductive process.

· Donor eggs– If you or your partner don’t have eggs then fertilizing eggs donated from someone you know, or from an egg bank results in embryos that can be put into surrogate, partner or your uterus depending on the situation. · Gestational surrogacy- Is often used by gay male couples, individuals without a uterus, or anyone unable to carry a pregnancy safely. It involves creating an embryo with donor eggs through IVF and the embryo is then carried by a surrogate who has no genetic connection to the baby.

What’s Covered by BC Medical Services Plan (MSP)?

MSP covers initial fertility assessments and some diagnostic testing. However, services like donor sperm, egg or sperm freezing, and surrogacy-related costs are not included and are paid out-of-pocket.

As of July 2025, MSP will be covering one round of IVF—up to a maximum of $19,000 This coverage is available to all BC residents with a valid MSP card, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, or relationship status.

Moving Forward No matter what your path to parenthood looks like, you’re not alone. With full-service clinics like Olive Fertility in both Victoria and Vancouver, and growing provincial support for fertility care, LGBTQ2SIA+ families in BC have more opportunities than ever to build the families than ever before.

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SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2025

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UPCOMING

EVENTS: July 1-6, 2025

KAITIE-ZEILSTRA

KAITIE-ZEILSTRA

COLIN-SMITH

COLIN-SMITH

YOUTH QUEER PROM: June 12th, 2025: Kwench, 7PM MEMORIAL DRAG BALL GAME: July 01, 2025: Vic West Park, 12 PM PRIDE IN THE WORD: July 03, 2025: Victoria Conference Centre, doors at 6:30PM, featuring keynotes from Tanya Boteju and Ivan Coyote. Tickets are now on sale here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/ e/victoria-pride-in-the-word-2025-tickets-1384455937979 VICTORIA PRIDE PARADE: July 06, 2025: Macdonald Park, 11AM - 6PM VICTORIA PRIDE FESTIVAL: July 06, 2025 COLIN-SMITH

to Support Your Path to Parenthood For over 20 years, Olive Fertility has been honored to help LGBTQ2SIA+ individuals and family groups grow their families with compassion, expertise, and inclusivity.

Whether you’re just starting to explore your options or ready to begin your journey, we’re here to support your path to parenthood – every step of the way.

Let’s create your future, your way.

Olive Fertility Centre Victoria – PROUD to be part of your story.

IUI, IVF, DONOR EGG, DONOR SPERM, SURROGACY, GENETIC TESTING, EGG FREEZING, SPERM FREEZING

OLIVEFERTILITY.COM/VICTORIA

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A Safe place for all

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t Admirals Walk Optometry, we aim above all to be a safe place where everyone is welcome and treated as the person they are.

We are incredibly proud to serve a community that includes Indigenous patients, LGBTQIA2S+ patients, patients with physical and mental disabilities, Canadian Forces members, immigrants, seniors, and every other 2, 3 and 4 legged friend in between and outside of labels.

This environment

Love on the Horizon

was created by you, our patients, being who you are, and by our team being the people that we are, and we are proud of it. It is not a political policy or a press statement. It’s a changing, imperfect thing that we live and work by, and we try to improve everyday. If there’s something we can do better, please let us know. If you have worries or anxiety about how you will be treated here, contact us. Everyone is always welcome.

GORDON FALLER

Protecting vulnerable animals with proud hearts.

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Your love can change a life!

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!

amie hadn’t planned to stay long at the Pride festival. The crowd, the noise, the glitter—it all felt overwhelming this year. Grief sat heavy in his chest after losing his mom last spring, and the idea of “celebrating” felt... complicated. But he showed up anyway, rainbow pin loosely attached to their denim jacket, camera slung across his shoulder, hoping to feel something again.

Alex was there for the first time in years. His last relationship had ended just before the pandemic, and since then, he’d kept his distance—from dating, from vulnerability, from anything that might crack them open again. But something about this year felt different. Braver.

Their paths crossed near the main stage. Jamie was backing up to get a wide shot of the drag queen performing, and Alex was walking straight into frame. A quick bump, an apologetic laugh, and suddenly they were talking. Talking about the performance, about the energy of the day, about how good it felt to just be seen.

They walked through the vendor stalls, shared a lemonade, and sat on the grass near the waterfront, watching the festivities. Jamie talked about his art, about missing his mom. Alex opened up about the kind of quiet that gets too loud when no one else is around. Neither of them meant to be so honest with a stranger—but it felt easy. Safe.

“I feel like I’ve known you longer than a few hours,” Alex said, eyes soft in the golden light.

Jamie smiled. “Maybe we’ve met before. In a past life. Or at Friends of Dorothy’s.”

As the sky shifted to gold, the festival began to wind down. Music faded, people thinned out, but Jamie and Alex lingered.

“Want to see the best sunset in the city?” Jamie asked, half teasing.

“I trust you,” Alex said.

They borrowed a friend’s scooter and rode the winding edge of Dallas Road, wind tangling their hair, laughter spilling into the open air. The ocean shimmered beside them, and when they pulled over near Clover Point, the horizon burned every colour of the rainbow.

Jamie turned to Alex, who was already looking at them.

“What did I tell ya?,” Jamie whispered.

“I wasn’t expecting this,” Alex said, reaching for his hand.

They sat close, shoulders brushing, silence folding around them like a soft blanket. A seagull called overhead. Somewhere behind them, the city hummed with fading celebration—but here, with the sea before them and the sun kissing the water goodbye, time slowed.

It wasn’t just a perfect day.

It was an amazing beginning.

“I don’t want this to end,” Jamie said quietly.

Alex nodded, fingers tightening around his. “Then let’s not let it.”

Jamie leaned their head on Alex’s shoulder, and for a while they didn’t speak. The warmth between them didn’t need words. The night came gently, and neither of them moved— because for once, there was nowhere else they’d rather be.

Eventually, the wind picked up, tousling Jamie’s hair across his face. Alex brushed it aside without thinking, his fingertips lingering for just a moment too long.

Jamie looked up at them.

“What if this isn’t real?”

Alex met his eyes. “What if it is?”

Jamie smiled, small and steady. “Okay.”

They watched until the sun disappeared entirely, then stayed even longer—two silhouettes wrapped in sea air, beginning something neither had words for yet, but both were ready for whatever came over the horizon.

Something real...